Sherry Robinson: How do towns create a sense of place?

This was a question that occupied Elizabeth Barlow Rogers after writing her book, "Learning Las Vegas: Portrait of a Northern New Mexican Place."

As an Anglo from New York, she was definitely an outsider in Meadow City, as it's sometimes called, but she considers that an asset – no political irons in the fire, no old family feuds, and untainted objectivity. The local sense of hospitality, especially to an older woman, made her a frequent guest in living rooms where generations looked on from family portraits hung on the walls.

Rogers had conversations, not interviews, she said during a talk before the Historical Society of New Mexico last weekend.

A sense of place, she concludes, derives from history, public spaces, the built environment, and public art. It's an interesting exercise to think of your own town in those terms.

Las Vegas is steeped in history, and with 900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, it has a look and an inventory of interesting properties that draw movie companies.

Every town has a history, and the public embrace of that history helps establish a sense of place. The Eddy County Courthouse in Carlsbad proudly displays brands on an exterior wall, a tribute to the many old ranches in the area. Grants, a town sprawled along railroad tracks and the highway, never had a center, so it created one anchored by the New Mexico Mining Museum. Española recreated the plaza it once had.

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Several railroad towns have, like Gallup, created wonderful public spaces in their old depots. Gallup went even farther by knocking down some nuisance properties downtown and creating handsome, new public spaces.

Farmington and Carlsbad both capitalized on their flowing waters to build river walks and trails that are much loved by locals and visitors.

The built environment – architecture old and new – is another element of place. Santa Fe has long understood that architecture is part of its draw as a tourist destination.

I discovered in writing about UNM's longtime architect, Van Dorn Hooker, that most people like the old parts of a college campus but not the new because the old campus has a look rooted in cherished old buildings, while the impersonal new buildings just don't fit. The reason UNM still has its look is because of Hooker and his successors.

The modernistic Student Union at Highlands University in Las Vegas looks nothing like the rest of campus, and I didn't find anybody who likes it.

Often the buildings communities are most proud of are their preserved old buildings. What would Raton be without the Schuler Theater? Imagine Roswell without the state's most beautiful courthouse, Los Alamos without Fuller Lodge or Española without Santa Cruz Church.

"We had looked at Las Vegas for 10 years and, like a lot of people, we always wished somebody would restore the Castañeda," Affeldt said. He is now that somebody.

The final element of Rogers' sense of place is public art. Nobody can hold a candle to Artesia, of course, with bronzes that join history and art to tell its story. The Albuquerque Airport's design and art collection make it memorable among airports, which can often be faceless.

In public debate, detractors too often make these elements of place an extravagance, a luxury, and yet they can lure retirees, tourists and new business because who, after all, wants to live in a town with no soul.

Rogers learned that a town with the power of place will bring home its former residents. She said, "You can go home again."

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